Starting a business is a three-stage affair.
- The first step is deciding that you are going to start a business
- The second stage is deciding what you'll be doing
- The third stage is actually launching the business.
Making the choice to forge your own path, create your own source of income and become your own boss is exciting and scary in equal parts. It's for this reason that people tend to get stuck on the first stage. They've decided that they're going to start a business and they have at least a general idea of what it is they'll be doing or offering their customers, but they keep pushing the actual ‘start date' further and further back.
‘Next week' becomes ‘next month' becomes ‘next quarter'. Eventually they settle on ‘January, in the new year.' It's easy to see why, what with it being the turning of a new leaf – But you're doing yourself a disservice.
1. There's no better time than ‘now'
2. January might rank as one of the worst possible times to go ahead with your business plan.
Here's why.
Competition is at an all-time high.
Once upon a time you needed thousands in business capital, some kind of headquarters and perhaps even investors before you could even think about starting a business. These days you can potentially start with a £200 laptop and an internet connection.
It's never been easier to start a business – But this goes for everybody, not just you.
No matter what service or product you'll be offering, be it carpet cleaning in your local city, freelance writing or hospitality recruitment, there are bound to be people with the exact same business model in your local area aiming to start in the new year.
You and all your competitors are currently poised and ready to go at the start line – Why not start running now, while they're still waiting for the starting gun in January?
You already have momentum
Remember how starting a business is a three-stage process?
If you're already at stage one then you have some momentum, especially if you've only recently decided to go ahead. Not only are ideas still relatively fresh in your mind, but you've not yet found ways to talk yourself out of it.
Give it enough time and that voice in your head will start finding clever ways to sabotage you.
- ‘This business model is too saturated.'
- ‘I don't know enough to start.'
- ‘It's too risky.'
Starting now means striking while the iron is hot – Starting in January means striking while the iron is nearly cold, and the possibility of being your own boss has gone from exciting to frightening.
You're giving yourself breathing room
Starting a business is simple, but not easy.
There are a lot of moving parts to keep track of, so it's possible that something might slip under your radar and rear its head further down the line.
Nothing is worse than getting excited about something and then being told ‘no'. It's the kind of rare disappointment you only find in flights being cancelled the week before a holiday, a friend rearranging plans at the last possible second – and learning that have to put your business on pause after you've been hyping yourself up for the last X months.
Launching your website at this crucial early stage also helps - It can take Google 2 weeks (Possibly even longer) to fully index a website so it's visible in searches. The sooner you establish your online presence, the better prepared you are for launch day and the further ahead of the curve you are.
Starting your business sooner rather than later means you have extra breathing room to sort out hiccups, bureaucracy and possible oversights – Before competition is at an all-time high in January.
You leave yourself more open to opportunities
There's a strong chance you were directly (or indirectly) inspired to go ahead with a particular business model or service by somebody in your life, be they a friend, a family member or somebody you met online.
…People who might be open to mentoring you, partnering up or forwarding you opportunities they're too busy to take.
Deciding to start a business in January is having your eyes fixed on the horizon, instead of what's under your own two feet. There could be opportunities right under your nose!
Have you been waiting on a sign? Here it is.
Are you set on starting your business in January?
DotGO are here to help you do it now.
Even if you've not yet launched a business, having your website set up and ready to means you've ticked a vital box early on and potentially have a backlog of clients on day one.
Whether you're still considering your options or already have the final details sorted out, the DotGO team can help you establish your online presence, showcase your services, convince your target customers to get in touch and get you found on Google – All in a single hassle-free package.
Learn more about how you can catapult your business online
We believe there is a place for good-old-fashioned customer service on the Internet. It's in our DNA. Our different approach has made a big impression on our customers and a huge difference to their businesses.
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Working with DotGo from start to finish has been amazing. Their communication and regular updates are brilliant and they really take the time to learn what your vision for your website is. Faith was incredible throughout the process, as was the whole team, and created a website that was exactly what we were after and better!
Amazing Company and staff really support you step by step through the process in my case developing a website for my new business venture. I will not hesitate in contacting DotGO for future business development. I am so incredibly grateful to this company my website looks amazing. Amazing service.
I am so pleased I chose Dotgo to build my website. The experience was smooth and very easy from start to finish. Jen picked up from my vague ideas exactly what I wanted and the results were fantastic, better than I could have imagined. Communication was excellent and at no time did I feel I was waiting for responses or replies to my emails or calls. I would highly recommend them.
